One of the most amazing things is that the God of the universe wants us to know Him.  God is not needy.  He has everything he needs in Himself.  God is completely self-sufficient.  So God doesn’t want us to know him because He is lonely or bored, but I believe He wants us to know Him because He knows how great He is.  God is the greatest giver of all and He wants the best for His creation.  God knows that the best thing He could give to His creatures is Himself.  The greatest treasure in all of life is to know God!  It says in Jeremiah 9:23...

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

This is an amazing verse!  God himself says, “Hey don’t be proud of your wealth, physical appearance and strength, or in your smarts.  If you want to be proud or excited about something.  Be excited about knowing me, the only true God!”  Thats an amazing verse that shows the God-centeredness of God. 

So its cool that God wants to make Himself known, because He is the most amazing being to know.  But how can we know this God?  How can we tell if God is talking to us?  Does he talk to us in an audible voice like in the Old Testament? 

I believe that God has already spoken.  He has revealed himself to the world in three ways; in creation, the conscience, and the Bible.  You can look at the the question “How do I know if God exists?” in the archives, because some of the things I bring out here is covered in those as well.  But lets just look at some verses of Scripture to see what God’s word says about this.

Psalm 19:1-2 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”

God has spoken to us through the creation He has made.  This world around us proclaims all day and night the glory and greatness of God.  He reveals His wisdom and knowledge in every pine cone, squirrel, and rain drop.  Every day we wake up God is speaking to us through the world He has made.  “Look at what I have made!  Stand in awe of my perfection and be satisfied,” God cries out.  This is may sound like God has a huge ego, but God is not like us.  We boast and seek lots of attention because we are insecure.  God seeks glory and praise because He truly does deserve glory and praise!  There is no one like Him!

The other way God has spoken to us is through our conscience.  This voice in our head that convicts us of wrong is designed by God.  Simply it teaches us that God is a righteous, and just God.  Nevertheless, you could study creation and the conscience in great deal and never know God.  There are scientists that spend their lives observing God’s creation and they don’t know God.  So whats left?  I believe the final way God has spoken to us is through His word, the Bible.   Lets look at a passage of Scripture in Hebrews 1:1-3.  It says...

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

God has provided a written record of His work in human history.  We have the Old Testament which teaches us about God and His work with the nation of Israel.  God often spoke to the nation through messengers or prophets that spoke to the people the words of God.  Yet this was all to set the ground work for the coming of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  We see in the verse above that God “has spoken” (which is past tense) to us by his Son.  This is where the New Testament comes in!  The life, death, and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ is the greatest display of the glory and greatness of God.  If you want to know God, learn and study Jesus!  God does speak to us today, but He is not speaking anything new.  He is not adding to the Bible.  He has already revealed the greatest things about Himself in the person and work of Jesus which is only found in the Bible.  

So the question for us is if God has said all that he needs to say are we listening?  Are we looking into what God has said.  Though all things are possible for God, I don’t believe that God speaks to us in audible voices.  He has no need to because we have sitting on our desks and counters a complete record of all that God wants to say.  So when we read the Bible, or hear it taught we can know that God is speaking.  When you hear the Bible you are hearing the very words from God!  The important thing is are we listening and going to respond with obedience.

Mark